Folder-gluer and auxiliary conveyors therefor

ABSTRACT

A MACHINE FOR PROCESSING PAPERBOARD BLANKS SUCH AS A FOLDER-GLUER IS PROVIDED WITH AUXILIARY FEED CONVEYORS AT THE INLET END OF THE MACHINE, THE AUXILILARY CONVEYORS ARE MOVABLE TOWARD AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER SO THAT THE AREA OF CONTACT BETWEEN THE AUXILIARY CONVEYORS AND THE PAPERBOARD BLANKS MAY BE VARIED.

H. E. KULWICK! 3,620,139

FOLDER-GLUER AND AUXILIARY CONVEYORS THEREFOR Nov. 16, 1971 2 Shoots-Sheet 1 Filed May 5 1969 nvvewron HENRY 5. KULW/CK/ ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 16, 1971 H. E. KULWICKI FOLDER-GLUER AND AUXILIARY CONVEYORS THEREFOR Filed May 5, 1969 2 Shoots-Shoot 2 INVENTOR HENRY E. KULW/CK/ ATTORNEYS.

3,620,139 Patented Nov. 16, 1971 U.S. C]. 93-50 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for processing paperboard blanks such as a folder-gluer is provided with auxiliary feed conveyors at the inlet end of the machine. The auxiliary conveyors are movable toward and away from each other so that the area of contact between the auxiliary conveyors and the paperboard blanks may be varied.

This invention relates to a machine such as a foldergluer having a main conveyor for causing paperboard blanks to move therealong. During such movement, the paperboard blanks may be slotted, scored, printed, die cut, folded and then may be glued, stitched, or taped. The machine is provided at its inlet end with a pair of auxiliary conveyors located between the folder-gluer and the discharge end of a printer-slotter or die cutter.

The auxiliary conveyors may be supported from the folding rails of the folder-gluer at the input end thereof. The auxiliary conveyors are movable toward and away from each other so that they may engage newly printed box blanks along the side panel portions thereof. The auxiliary conveyors include feed felts which may contact the box blanks in an area between the free edge of the box blank and the vertical plane containing the folding rails.

The adjustability of the auxiliary conveyors toward and away from each other provides for several advantages. One advantage relates to ink tracking. On box blanks where the ink is still damp or has not yet completely dried, the auxiliary conveyors may be disposed so as to avoid contact between the auxiliary conveyor belt and the ink which has not yet dried. This will provide extra drying time for the ink.

Another advantage of the auxiliary conveyors of the present invention relates to blank feed control. Some box blanks are so proportioned that they are fed in a more positive manner by a pair of conveyor belts that are capable of being positioned independently in a location which is not in line with the folding rails of the folder-gluer. As a result thereof, box blanks having a flap cut or a die cut can be transported without skewing.

A further advantage of the auxiliary conveyor is that it may be positioned out of the way of die cut scrap. If scrap enters the conveyors it may overlap the box blank, thereby interfering with subsequent operations and may cause down time of the machine to effect removal of the scrap.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine such as a folder-gluer having a novel auxiliary conveyor means at its inlet end for receiving and feeding box blanks from a printer-slotter or die cutter to the main conveyor of the folder-gluer.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel auxiliary conveyor means attachable to the inlet end of a machine such as folder-gluer.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a folder-gluer having auxiliary conveyors at its inlet end which are adjustable toward and away from each other.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings a form which is presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation view of the inlet end of the folder-gluer having auxiliary conveyors in operative position with respect to a printer-slotter.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the auxiliary conveyor means at the inlet end of the foldergluer.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 33 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one C-shaped frame associated with the auxiliary conveyor means.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of a typical box blank.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there is shown in FIG. 1 the inlet end of a folder-gluer having an auxiliary conveyor means 14 thereon in operative juxtaposition to a diagrammatic illustration of a printer-slotter 12. The auxiliary conveyor means 14 is adapted to feed box blanks from the printer-slotter 12 to the main conveyor 20 on the folder-gluer 10.

The folder-gluer 10 is provided with adjustable top side rails 16 and 16 and adjustable bottom folding rails 18 and 18'. The main conveyor 20 on the folder-gluer 10 is supported by the top rails 16 and 16'. Idler rollers 28 are supported by the bottom folding rails 18 and 18 at spaced points therealong.

The auxiliary conveyor means 14 includes a top extension rail 22 removably connected to the top rail 16 by bolts 17 and a top extension rail 22' similarly connected to the rail 16'. The auxiliary conveyor means 14 includes a pair of units adapted to engage opposite edge portions of the box blank. One of the units is supported by the rails 22 and 18. The other of the units is supported by the rails 22 and 18'. Since the units are identical, only the unit supported by rails 22 and 18 will be described in detail with corresponding prime numerals being provided with respect to corresponding structure on the other unit.

Rail 18 is provided with idler rollers 28 at spaced points therealong. The idler rollers 28 are in line with and are at the same elevation as the idler rollers 86 to be described hereinafter. The rails 22 and 18 support first and second C-frames designated as 30 and 32. Frame 30 is adjacent the folder-gluer 10 while frame 32 is juxtaposed to the printer-slotter 12. Each of the C-frames 30 and 32 is identical, except for location of minor structures for left and right-handedness.

Frame 30 is provided with a top leg 34, a parallel bottom leg 36, and a vertical leg 38 connected to the legs 34 and 36. Frame 32 includes a top leg 40 and a bottom leg 42 connected by a vertical leg corresponding to leg 38.

As shown more clearly in FIG. 2, a carriage 46 is provided with rollers 48 in rolling contact with a track 50 on a side of the bottom leg 36 for movement therealong. A similar carriage 52 is rollingly supported by track 54 on a side of the bottom leg 42. The carriages 46 and 52 are interconnected by a horizontal shaft 56. Shaft 56 has a pinion 60 meshed with rack 58.

The rack 58 is fixedly secured to the upper surface of leg 36. At the other end of shaft 56, there is provided a pinion 64 which meshes with rack 62. *Rack 62 is fixedly secured to the upper surface of leg 42. Also on shaft 56 there is provided a motor means such as two handwheels 68 and 70 which may be utilized to cause shaft 56 to rotate thereby propelling the carriages 46 and 52 by means of the rack and pinion associated with each carriage.

The carriages 46 and 52 may also be propelled by an impulse motor to cause the shaft 56 to rotate through a predetermined number of revolutions and thereby reciprocate the carriages 46 and 52 any predetermined distance toward and away from the rail 18.

The carriages 46 and the carriage 52 jointly support a plate 84. -A series of idler rollers '86 is supported by plate 84. See FIGS. 2-4. The idler rollers '86 are adapted to engage the lower surface of the box blank to assist in maintaining the side panel portions of the box blank horizontal and in the same plane as the remainder of the blank.

The top leg 34 of the C-frame 30 is provided with a track 91 on its lower surface which supports a carriage for movement therealong. The top leg 40 of C-frame 32 is provided with a comparable track 94 which supports a carriage 92 for movement therealong. Track 91 on its lower surface is provided with a rack 96 meshing with a pinion 97 on one end of shaft 95. Track 94 is provided with a rack 98 on its lower surface meshing with pinion 93 at the other end of shaft 95. Two handwheels 86 and 88 are provided on shaft which may be utilized to cause shaft 95 to rotate thereby propelling carriage 90 and carriage 92 by means of the racks and pinions.

The carriages 90 and 92 reciprocate in unison along the top legs 34 and 40, toward and away from the rail 22. The carriages 90 and 92 are connected to a plate 116. As shown more clearly in FIG. 2, an idler roller 118 is supported at the righthand end of plate 116. An auxiliary conveyor belt having a top run 120 and a bottom run 121 extends around the idler roller 118. The conveyor belt also extends around a pulley 122 supported from the lefthand end of plate 116 in FIG. 2.

The pulley 122 is keyed to a shaft 124 so as to be driven by said shaft while permitting the pulley to reciprocate along the shaft. Shaft 124 extends across the full width of the auxiliary conveyor means 14 and therebeyond so as to constitute a shaft for driving the auxiliary conveyor belt. The auxiliary conveyor belt on the unit on the lefthand end of FIG. 3 is likewise driven by shaft 124 (but not shown) in the same manner as described above.

A tension roller 126 engages the upper surface of the top run 120 of the auxiliary conveyor belt. Roller 126 is rotatably supported by the plate 116. A plurality of idler rollers 128 are rotatably supported by the plate 116 between the runs 120 and 121 of the conveyor belt and engaging the lower run 121. As the carriages 90 and 92 move toward and away from the vertical plane of rail 22, the plate 116 causes the runs of the conveyor belt as well as the rollers 126 and 128 to move therewith.

In FIG. 5, there is illustrated a box blank designated generally as 130. The box blank 130 illustrates a typical box blank which may be more advantageously fed to the folder-gluer 10 by the auxiliary conveyor means 14. Box blank 130 includes a panel 132 connected to a panel 134 by means of a score-line 136. Panel 134 is connected to panel 138 by means of a score-line 140. Panel 138 is connected to panel 142 by means of a score-line 144. The free edge of panel 142 is provided with a tab 146.

The operation of the auxiliary conveyor means 14 is as follows:

Box blanks 130 will be printed and slotted by the printer-slotter 12 in a conventional manner. The box blanks 130 are received by the auxiliary conveyor means 14 while moving in the direction of arrow 148 in FIG. 5. The score-line 144 will be aligned with the rails 18 and 4 116. The score-line 136 will be aligned with the rails 18' and 116.

The handwheels 68 and 70 may be actuated (independently) to position the rollers 86 in any desired location between the far side of score-line 144 and the free edge of panel 142 while engaging the bottom surface of the blank 130. The rollers 86 on the unit at the lefthand end of FIG. 3 will likewise be positioned to the most desirable area for contact with the lower surface of panel 132. The relative positions of the bottom idler rollers on the respective units will be different due to the difference in size of the panels 132 and 142.

The other handwheels 86 and 88 may be activated independently to cause the carriages 90 and 92 to reciprocate along their tracks so as to preposition the bottom run 121 at any location on panel 142 between the far side of the score-line 144 and the free edge of panel 142. When the bottom run 121 engages the panel 142 adjacent the free edge thereof, the idler roller 86 should be generally in the same vertical plane as the belt so as to provide support for the panel 142 to prevent the panel from being deflected out of the plane of the box blank 130. The unit at the lefthand end of FIG. 3 may likewise be adjusted so that the bottom run 121' engages the panel 132 at the desired location between the inside of the score-line 136 and the free edge of panel 132.

The selective positioning of the auxiliary conveyor belts may be adjusted prior to each run of a different type box blank so as to be in the most desirable area depending upon the slots, die cut-outs, score-lines, and printed areas. By avoiding the printed areas on the box blank, the smearing of such printed areas, which have not yet dried, by the auxiliary conveyor belts is avoided.

The folder-gluer may be driven separately but synchronized with the driving of the printer-slotter 12. If desired, a drive take-off shaft 150 may extend between the printer-slotter 12 and the folder-gluer 10 so that the drive for the printer-slotter 12 may be selectively connected to the drive shaft for the folder-gluer 10 and for driving shaft 124.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof.

It is claimed:

1. Apparatus comprising a folder-gluer having adjustable side rails and a main conveyor, a pair of auxiliary conveyors at the input end of said main conveyor for feeding blanks to the main conveyor, said auxiliary conveyors being connected to said side rails for movement with the side rails as the latter are adjusted, said auxiliary conveyors including endless belts which are adjustable horizontally toward and away from each other, and means for adjusting said belts toward and away from each other generally perpendicular to the direction of feeding the box blanks and generally perpendicular to the side edges of the belts.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said belts are each supported by a carriage from a separate horizontal support arm, each of said arms being supported by one of said side rails.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 2 including a motor means connected to each carriage for reciprocating the carriage along its support arm toward and away from a vertical plane containing the side rails, said machine being a folder-gluer.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said auxiliary conveyors include a first set of top and bottom rails, a second set of top and bottom rails spaced from and parallel to said first set, first and second C-shaped frames connected to the rails of each set, a carriage on each frame mounted for movement toward and away from the vertical plane of the rails, means connecting the carriages associated with the first set of rails for movement in unison as a set of carriages, means connecting the carriages associated with the second set of rails for movement in unison References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 654,136 7/1900 Cowles 93-46 1,856,498 5/1932 Miller 198-19 2,551,080 5/1951 Allen 198-19 3,204,756 9/1965 Lesch 198-19 X OTHER REFERENCES International Paper Box Machine Co., publication concerning their Model A Folding and Gluing Machine (only pages 3-17 are relied on), copy in 9350. (This pamphlet would have been published in the early 1920s, per Walter Stopyra, asst to the sales manager, per telephone conversation on Sept. 8, 1970.)

WAYNE A. MORSE, Primary Examiner US. 01. X.R. 93-46, 52; 19 8-49 

